Swimming Pool Timeline

You were probably wondering what the first swimming pool is like and how this very popular recreation evolved.  It all started with bathers, and then came swimmers and now we have athletes who considered swimming pool as their home.

The first pool ever dug was dug during 300 BC. It was called The Great Bath located at Mohenjo-Daro. Measuring 12 x 7 in meters, bricks were the materials used for its lining and it was covered by tar as its base sealant.

It was then followed by the Greeks and the Romans who created pools for athletic purposes in their palaestras. Palaestra is an ancient Greek school for wrestling. The purpose of the pool goes to their nautical games and exercises that are military. Private pools were first owned by Roman Emperors which fish were also kept. And if you will ask what first Jacuzzi was? It was created in Rome by a Roman named Gaius Maecenas during the 1oo BC. Maecenas was Roman lord who was very wealthy as he was also known to be one of the first art patrons.

Came 400 BC, Kuttam Pokuna in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka was built by ancient Sinhalese. Flights of steps, punkalas and scrolls can be found on this pool as it was designed that way.

In Britain, swimming pools made its way in the middle of the 19th century. Six diving boards on a pool were created in London, England.  While in Glasgow, Scotland, the oldest Swimming Club can be found and yes it is still running and it is called the Arlington Baths Club.  It was in the year of 1870 when it was founded and its Victorian building is well preserved to this day along with its 21M pool.

Since the Olympics started in 1896 which included swimming in the category, swimming popularity sky rocketed.  Oxford had its first public indoor pool in 1896. Located at Temple Cowley, swimming started to be a hit.

In 1869, the Amateur Swimming Association was created in England while the Oxford Swimming Club came in 1909.

Competitive swimming rose after World War I. Standards were made and was even enhanced and training became a part of the agenda. Pools that can be found at home became a hit in the United States after the World War II. Hollywood didn’t escape its madness when it featured swimming pools on the film Esther Williams’ Million Dollar Mermaid.

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